Accessible Course Materials
On this page:
The following is an overview of steps you can take to make your course materials compliant with accessibility standards. This includes best practices for text-based materials and audio/visual materials. More thorough information about closed captions can be found on the Closed Captioning page.
Text-Based Material
Whether your documents and handouts are delivered digitally or printed out for class, they must align with accessibility best practices.
For more information, as well as step-by-step instructions for implementing these practices in Pilot, check out WSO’s full Accessible Text Based Material guide (PDF).
Color and Contrast
Using color to indicate meaning is inaccessible to users with limited vision and those using screen readers.
- Color must not be the only means of conveying information but can be used to accent it.
- All text must have sufficient color contrast to be readable at all sizes.
- Black text on white background is recommended
Typography
Legibility refers to how easy or difficult it is to distinguish one letter from another in a text. This impacts the overall readability of documents and is influenced by font choice, size and spacing.
- Use simple, easily readable fonts
- Recommended fonts include Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Tahoma, Times, and Verdana
- Standard text is 11 or 12 pt type
- Text should not go below 8 pt
- Text is well-spaced for readability
Structured Headings
Adaptive technology users depend on proper heading structure to navigate course material. If no heading structure is present, the document will be read as one continuous block of text by screen readers and thus cannot be easily navigated.
Headings should be used in cascading order. They are referred to by the letter H followed by the corresponding heading rank, beginning with H1 for Heading 1.
- H1: Used for the main sections/titles of the document
- H2: Used for subsections within each main section denoted by H1.
- H3: Used for further subsections of H2 content, if necessary.
This pattern repeats for as many sub-headings as are necessary for your content. The limit for heading levels is typically 6.
Descriptive Link Text
Screen reader users often use the tab key to navigate quickly around a page or document. If every link’s text is “read more” or “click here,” it is more difficult to determine what links refer to what material when navigating with a screen reader. Generic link text is ambiguous and should be avoided.
- Each link’s purpose or destination should be able to be determined from the link text alone.
- Use keywords that describe the link’s contents. Examples include “Request Support Services” or “View this map of Italy.”
- Adapt the ambiguous “learn more” or “read more” prompts to something more specific. For example, “Learn more about animal behavior” is a descriptive link.
- Use the title of a linked article as the link text.
Links should be checked periodically to ensure that they are not broken and still redirect to the intended content. D2L has a tool for Pilot to make checking links easy.
- Simply select ‘Course Admin” then “Broken Links.”
- Next, enter a date range and select “Apply.”
- A list of broken links in your course will be returned to you which you can delete or go into your course and swap out manually.
Tables
Screen readers can only read aloud each cell of a table one-by-one from left-to-right and top-to-bottom. This can make conveying large quantities of data difficult. Proper formatting of tables is essential so that information can be conveyed to all users clearly.
Avoid tables if information can be conveyed just as well by other means.
If you must use a table:
- Keep tables as simple and brief as possible.
- Format your table using a heading to distinguish labels from data entries.
- Keep tables simple and focused on one subject
- Add Alt Text/A descriptive caption for the table
- Avoid blank cells if possible
- Don’t use screenshots of tables
Alternative Text for Images
Alternative text, or “alt text,” is a description of an image embedded directly into the website or document containing the image. This description is read aloud by screen reader applications or can be viewed by hovering your cursor over the image.
Faculty must include alt text for all still images in their lecture content— this includes photos, illustrations, charts, and graphs. Physical, in-classroom handouts must also have alt text.
For more examples, and a step-by-step guide for adding alt text to Pilot, consult the WSO guide on Alt Text: Alternative Text (PDF)
Tips for Alt Text
Keep alt text short and think of how it will help someone listening to a screen reader. The goal of alt text is to give students who cannot see the images the same experience as students who can.
- Do not begin alt text with “an image/picture of...” Since screen readers will identify when an image is on the screen before reading the alt text. This is redundant.
- If relevant, you can indicate if the image is a logo, illustration, cartoon, etc.
- Focus on describing the image itself in the simplest terms needed.
- End the alt text sentence with a period.
Simple Images
If it is only important for students to know there’s a dog in an image added to your course, you can simply write “A dog.” for the alt text. This is straight to the point but is not descriptive and doesn’t do a great job at helping a student visualize the image.
A better alt text would be a bit more descriptive, to create a better visualization for the learner. For example, “A small brown dog in a red collar.”
If you added a picture of a dog to your course to convey an emotion or idea, additional details are helpful to create context for the visuals.
For example:
“A large white dog showing its teeth with ears back in an aggressive stance.”
or
“A blue-grey Staffordshire Terrier dog with a big open mouth and a happy expression.”
Complex Images
If you need more than 120 characters to provide an adequate description of the image, then also include a longer description in the document’s visible text. Charts and graphs often need longer descriptions.
Charts and Graphs
Conveying the visual information of charts and graphs can be challenging depending on their complexity. A link or attribution for the source should be included with any charts/graphs added to your material. Important information to include:
- Chart/graph type
- Type of data
- Reason for including the chart/graph
Decorative Images
For some images, alternative text would not add meaning and might be redundant. These “decorative” images could include screen shots in a tutorial where the alt text wouldn’t add anything that’s not already in the main text, or accent images to decorate your document.
Ask yourself if it would be a waste of time for someone with a screen reader to listen to a description of an image. If so, you can probably skip the alternative text.
Physical Handouts
Include a short description next to the image, graph, or chart on the printed handout.
Closed Captioning for Audio and Video
For detailed information on how to caption your own media, please check WSO’s page on Closed Captioning.
